Google has teamed up with Johnson & Johnson-owned Ethicon to help create more advanced robotics technology for surgical use, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Mountain View tech giant hopes to tackle the software side of the issue by creating machine vision technology to help doctors more easily guide and control surgical equipment.

From modular phones to cancer detecting nanoparticles, Google sure has a lot in its pipeline. But lurking behind those high-profile projects is Google Genomics, a project that will store complete copies of genomes. The search giant started working on this particular moonshot about a year and a half ago, partnering with scientists and developing an API that allows them to move DNA data into its servers.

Some medical schools are using Google Glass to train the surgeons of tomorrow, however Mountain View’s wearable computer is also teaching some old dogs a few new tricks. Kansas City plastic surgeon and Lt. Governor of Kanas, Dr. Jeff Colyer recently added Google’s high-tech eyewear to his equipment list. When performing medical procedures from North Kansas City Hospital, Dr. Colyer uses Glass during facial reconstructive surgeries.

Two former Stanford University students who created a startup to help doctors use Google Glass to view and update patient records have raised $3.2M in venture capital funding, reports SFGate.

Augmedix’s founders say that physicians currently spend around a third of their time with a patient looking at a computer screen, and that using Glass instead will allow them to spend more time communicating with patients … expand full story